Tag: BBC

BBC has a pretty decent comedy show called The One Ronniestarring the wizened eighty year old comedian Ronnie Colbert. While the comedian does feel a little guilty doing this show without his late partner Ronnie Barker (part of the The Two Ronnies while he was still alive), he is quite the riot as an old comic and manages to keep up with latest happenings to elicit that odd smirk or the riotous guffaw.

One of his latest sketches features him talking with an elderly grocer and general vegetable shop owner about how his blackberry was not working. Yes, he takes out the organic fruit, a blackberry, and asks the shopkeeper if there was anything he could do to fix it. The shopkeeper immediately asks him whether it ran out of juice! Hilarious puns and comedy that we’ve all grown accustomed to watching on the Beeb.

It is actually quite heartening to watch a comedy by elderly gentlemen stay in touch with the latest technology. While the sketch starts out with a blackberry, it goes into the territory of Apples and Eggs-boxes soon enough, giving you, the viewer, plenty of time to take in the jokes and laugh before proceeding to the next!

Getting a speedy 15 MBPS connection for just a few dollars a month can easily make us forget the state of internet just a few years ago. All those sluggish dial up connections and that too something only a handful were able to enjoy. We have come a long way since then and a very good tool to depict that is an interactive map put together by BBC.

The map shows the expansion of cable networks and internet from 1998 to 2010. Browsing the late 1990s show the percentage of people online from most of the world was below 5% but has grown to double digits now even for some countries in the remote regions of Africa and Asia. Hovering your mouse over any country also displays the total number of internet users for that particular year. The yellow lines between continents represent the submarine cable system and it is remarkable to see how they have multiplied within last 10 years.

The best way to witness the growth is to click the play button on the slider and see the network change year to year.

The Vancouver Winter Olympics start from the 12th of February with the opening ceremony of this fantastic games ceremony held every four years in the true spirit of the Olympic games. Stemming from the Nordic Games of the 1900’s, the Winter Olympics have become the pinnacle of sporting achievement in the winter sports disciplines. Featuring fifteen sporting disciplines spread over sixteen days, the Winter Olympics are a must watch for anyone who loves and participates in any of the sports that are part of the medal games. The Games are being held in Vancouver, Canada where rain and snow come together to form a freezing as well as a pleasing time for the Games.

The major events of the Winter Olympics are:- Alpine skiing, Biathlon, Bobsled (which brings memories of the movie Cool Runnings, if you have seen it!), Cross-country skiing, Curling, Figure skating, Ice hockey, Luge, Nordic combined, Short track speed skating, Skeleton, Ski jumping, Snowboarding, Speed skating. Whew! Each and every one of these sports is contested fiercely for that prestigious Olympic Gold Medal and it will be a treat to watch each one of them.

But where will you watch? On your computer of course (assuming it does have a connection to the internet!). There are quite a few websites that allow you to sit and watch the Games from the comfort of your laptop or desktop’ (or netbook’s) screens. For starters, BBC Sport is a one-stop website for all your Vancouver 2010 needs. The live coverage will bring the entirety of the Olympics with little lag behind the real events on your computer screen. NBC has a dedicated site for the coverage of the Winter Olympics that will tell you the times and results of the Winter Olympics as well as TV listings for the live telecast for them couch potatoes!

Come February 12th, I am sure very few of you winter sporting fans will not be glued to their screens be it a TV or a computer monitor!